Reconditioned
by dragonprincess1988
Summary: Tim realizes that he's been reconditioned, and he's not so sure that he likes it.


He's sitting at his desk, hunched over his laptop, working on something completely unrelated to what he's thinking about when suddenly the thought occurs to Tim that somehow and in some way, Dick has managed to recondition him. Their conversations lately have been awkward and uncomfortable for a lot of reasons, but one of the less obvious reasons is the fact that there's been no physical contact between them what-so-ever. Tim isn't necessarily surprised that Dick Grayson, of all people, has conditioned him to wanting physical contact from the only person who gives it to him consistently, but it's still something that catches him off-guard. It used to be that Tim just endured all of the hugs, annoying hair ruffling, and other physical contact because it seemed to make Dick happy. Now, however, it feels wrong not to have all of those things forced upon him during their conversations.

Tim wants to laugh at himself, because, for a long time, he thought that the only person other than Bruce who could recondition him without his knowledge was Alfred. Now, he's well aware that, apparently, anyone who spends enough time with him can do just that-and Tim isn't so sure that he's comfortable with that fact. It leaves him feeling open and raw...like anyone who gets close enough can make him into something new. He's smart enough to know what kind of a future that could lead to, and he's definitely not comfortable with that either.

Then again, it's not as though Dick is like anyone else Tim knows. It would be remiss of Tim to ever think that Dick didn't hope for this one day, and it's not as though Dick knew what kind of havoc that would wreak on Tim's mind. Tim mentally shakes his head, and tries to return to the work that he has laid out in front of him, but before he can, he hears a soft sound coming from somewhere to his left. Tim immediately knows exactly what that sound is, and he considers ignoring it-for exactly 1.5 seconds-but he knows better. The pest to his left isn't going to leave, and if he doesn't acknowledge said pest soon, Tim knows that the situation is only going to become irritating in a way that he's not in the mood to deal with.

Sighing to himself, Tim turns to his left and drops his eyes to a particular shadow. "What do you want, Damian?" 

Damian emerges from the dark in a way that reminds Tim eerily of Bruce. "Drake, I want to talk to you." Damian's tone doesn't have it's normal amount of venom in it, and that makes Tim want to raise an eyebrow at him, and possibly back off more than any threat ever could.

Tim isn't sure if his inner weariness is obvious to the kid, but it's not like they've spent an exorbitant amount of time together since Tim came back, so he thinks that the kid can forgive him for any outward show of apprehension. "What do you want to talk about?"

The kid doesn't shuffle his feet, but he really looks like he wants to, at least as much as someone like Damian can. "How did you get Grayson to stop forcing physical contact onto you?"

Tim just stares ahead, not really looking at anything. This isn't the first time that thinking about something has preceded an uncomfortable conversation about it, but it still leaves him wanting to bang his head against a wall. "Why are you asking?"

Damian folds his arms over his chest. Tim knows that Damian thinks that it makes him look obstinate, but it really just makes him look petulant. "He keeps hugging me, messing up my hair, and forcing other types of physical contact onto me, and I can't get him to stop. I've noticed that he used to do the same things with you, and you seemed to like as much as I do, and he doesn't do it anymore, so I want you to tell me how you put an end to it."

Tim's reasonably sure that he's supposed to be upset by this, but he's not. He can't be. He's been telling Dick from day one that he didn't want all of the physical contact, and he's not really sure how he got it to stop, but Tim is fairly certain that he's not actually allowed to be disappointed with the fact that it has happened, because he never really wanted it to begin with. Tim shrugs. "I don't know. He just doesn't anymore. Maybe you'll grow out of caring about it so much."

"Did you?"

"What?"

Damian looks exasperated at having to clarify what he means. He doesn't like using more words than he has to in order to get a point across, at least that's what Dick had said, and Tim is completely ignoring the fact that Dick had said it while comparing him to Tim. "Did you grow out of caring about all of the useless physical contact that he thrust upon you?" 

Tim thinks about it for a moment. "Yeah, I guess I did." 

Damian looks thoughtful for a moment, and that almost makes Tim want to end this conversation more than he already does. "Is that why he no longer gives it to you, because you don't react anymore?"

Tim doesn't know, and he's not sure that he wants to know, but telling Damian that won't get him to go away. "I guess, from a certain perspective, one could make the argument that he has you now, so he doesn't need to shower me with affection that he doesn't necessarily feel or want to give me, especially with how I do...or do not react to it."

Damian stares at him for a moment blankly. "So, you're telling me that my best bet is to hope that he finds some other poor unfortunate soul to pour affection onto? That seems rather...bleak."

Tim wants to laugh at the Little Mermaid reference, but he doesn't think that Damian would understand it. Then again, he could easily see Damian sneaking out of his room late at night to watch Disney movies. The kid would probably play it off as researching 'normal' childhood activities if he was ever caught. "Have you talked to Dick about it?"

Damian glares at him, but Tim knows that that's probably because it was an obvious solution, and Damian wants him to know that he thinks it's pointless of him to bring it up as an option. "Of course I did. He said that since you put up with it there's no reason I shouldn't."

Tim really wants to laugh. It's not uncommon for Dick to use such things against any of his little brothers, but it's still nice to know that he's being used as a weapon in an entirely different way than normal. "Then I guess you're just stuck with Dick Grayson the hug monster."

Damian looks like he wants to hit something for a moment. That is until suddenly there's a smirk on his face. "It looks like it's just one more way that I'm replacing you."

Tim shrugs. He knows that Damian is just trying to goad him, and it's really not going to work. Dick does what he does for his own reasons, and Tim learned long ago that there's no point in getting upset over something that he can't change. If Dick wants Damian to be the little brother that Tim wasn't capable of being then that's fine by him. "If it makes the physical contact more bearable for you to think that, then be my guest."

Tim turns back to his work, signaling that the conversation is over, but before he can read more than a line of what he had previously written Damian smacks him upside the head. "You're an idiot, Drake."

Tim raises an eyebrow at him, but he doesn't get a chance to respond before Dick emerges from the shadows. "Are you two having another brotherly spat?"

"No." The two of them reply in unison.

Dick stares at the two of them for a moment before reaching over and ruffling Damian's hair. Damian scowls at Dick as he combs his fingers through his hair trying to make it look semi less messy. "Grayson, we've talked about this."

Dick smiles brightly at him. "Yes, we have. Breaking my arm doesn't work in your favor and a hair ruffling won't kill you, so deal, D."

Damian launches into an argument with Dick, while Tim, on the other hand, decides to ignore both of them as he pulls his laptop closer to himself. He does actually need to finish what he's working on sometime this century, and there's no reason that he needs to stick around here to do it. He's about halfway across the room when Dick calls out to him. "Where are you going?"

Tim shrugs, but doesn't turn around to face him. "I've got work to do."

Dick sighs. "Why don't I believe you?"

"Actually," Damian cuts in before Tim can even roll his eyes at Dick. "he was working on something before I interrupted him."

Tim turns and just blinks a few times at the fact that Damian just defended him slightly, but he doesn't get a chance to say anything before Dick's reply. "And why did you interrupt him?"

"I wanted to ask him a question, but unsurprisingly he didn't actually have an answer." 

"Oh, and what was the question? Timmy rarely doesn't know where to find the answer if he doesn't already have it filed away somewhere in that freaky head of his."

Tim can hear the surprise in Dick's voice, and he really wants to leave the room before this conversation can get any weirder, but he can't just walk out of the room without causing Dick to follow him, and he doesn't exactly have a better excuse lined up beyond work. Damian takes a moment to stare from Dick to Tim and then back again, and for a moment...one single tiny moment Tim thinks that Damian is actually just going to say nothing and walk away, but Tim knows better than to hope for such things. "I wanted to know how he got you to stop harassing him with physical contact."

Dick is looking down at Damian blinking rapidly before he lifts his head to Tim with a help me expression before returning his gaze to the kid. "I...what? I don't harass Tim with physical contact."

Damian folds his arms over his chest. "Not anymore you don't, and I envy him for that."

Dick opens his mouth, and then closes it again. He looks like a fish out of water, and it makes Tim want to laugh, except for all of the ways that it doesn't. "What? I...what are you talking about?"

Damian rolls his eyes and stares at Dick as though it should be obvious. "You used to shower him with physical affection, and now all of your conversations take place with a distance of at least three feet between the two of you at all times. I find it very intriguing."

"That's not true!" Dick shouts uselessly, and Tim vows not to say anything for the duration of this discussion. That is until Dick turns to him with sad puppy eyes and an expression of pure anguish. "Tim, come on, you know that he's wrong."

Tim just nods without saying a word. He doesn't actually have anything to say. Contradicting Dick in front of Damian won't help anyone's cause in the long run, but it's pretty obvious to anyone who isn't Dick that Damian is completely right.

Damian, on the other hand, seems to know what he's doing, and doesn't seem willing to let Tim get away with it either. "Oh, please, Grayson, who are you kidding? The two of you haven't even spent five minutes in the same room together. I guess Drake was right when he said that now that you have me you don't have to pour affection onto him that you don't want to." Tim swears that if he ever has to rescue Damian from a chained chest at the bottom of the Gotham River he's going to take his time in doing so.

Dick looks horrified that he would ever even think such a thing, but before he can respond Tim holds up a hand to stop him. "To be fair, I did say that from a certain perspective one could make that argument."

Dick raises an eyebrow at him. "And do you agree with that assessment, Timmy?"

Tim reminds himself that the laptop that he's holding is actually a delicate piece of equipment and clutching it in his fist to the point that it cracks won't actually help him get his work done. "Not necessarily. I was simply trying to put things into perspective for Damian."

Dick laughs, but there's no humor in it. "I doubt that. I really doubt that." 

Tim considers just shrugging and walking away, but he knows that Dick will just follow him, and that never leads to work being accomplished. "Look, this isn't actually a big deal. I don't know why we're still talking about it. Damian, Dick is part affection whore-just deal with it. Dick, Damian doesn't actually like to be touched, but I'm sure that doesn't matter to you-and me? Well, I've got work to do." Tim heads for the door, but is stopped with Dick's hand around his bicep.

Tim doesn't even have time to protest before he's being dragged into a bone crushing hug. "Okay, this is really unnecessary. I didn't actually mean for this to be the end result of..."

Dick tightens his hold on Tim even more as he silences him. "Shh, you're right I am part affection whore, and you should take your own advice and just deal."

Tim wants to poke Dick in the ribs, and let him know that he is being severely put upon here, but he just isn't feeling it. It's been a long time since Dick's bothered with even the smallest amount of physical contact, and while Tim still isn't completely comfortable with being reconditioned, he thinks that he can live with it, especially since it's Dick who's been reconditioning him. Tim wraps his arms around Dick, and steals a glance over to Damian. He's standing three feet away scowling. "I hope you two realize I am not taking part in any group hugs."

Dick smirks and moves before the boy even has a chance to escape. "That's what you think."

The end


End file.
